Senali Fonseka, RN

I was hesitant coming into the psych ward. Who isn't? But I was so depressed and suicidal. Senali was one of the first nurses to greet me after admission.

She not only told me about my meds and gave them to me, like most nurses. Senali sat down with me and explained in detail about how depression can feel and how sometimes it can happen with paranoid thoughts like mine.

South Asians do not talk about mental illness. My parents generally tell me to get over that American drama, and their discipline was borderline abuse growing up. She educated me on how stigma hurts some cultural shame those seeking mental health care and how destructive it was to patients who are suffering. She educated me on how trauma therapy can help if I was curious.

Senali made me feel good about coming to get help; she thanked me for holding on for so long and validated how hard things were. Senali also told me about how her first-generation patients really struggled with mental health and explaining it to parents.

Senali was my favorite nurse because every morning she brought me herbal tea and always made time to sit down and talk with me. Initially, I thought she was just doing this because I was Asian (we like our tea, haha), but all her patients got tea in the morning. After groups, a few others and I sat down and talked about the tea (because no one else greeted us that way in the morning). I looked forward to our conversations and felt like she was a big sister and nurse to me.

On the day I was discharged, Senali walked me downstairs, spent time explaining my diagnosis to my mom in detail, and reviewed the meds with her. Senali also told me about how she called my mom and told her about the importance of therapy prior.

Senali told me she was so proud of me for choosing to protect my wellbeing versus completing my suicide plan. I was so ashamed when I first came to this place because my parents told me I was being "stupid."

Senali told me that she thinks winning in life is growing up to be an adult who could have protected you as a child. She said, "You're going to be an awesome adult, " and that I should grow up to keep an eye on my siblings and support them if they feel bad, like I did.

All the nurses at the LAMPS unit were good. But I felt like Senali really saw me, knew my pain, and helped encourage me.